Chance Encounter
by FayeValentine00
Summary: R/L - Luna POV - Ron and Luna run into each other years after their school days and try to catch up.


Chance Encounter  
By: FayeValentine00  
(For: lj user=jeanniefillion)

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(A/N: This is my first straight out R/L fic and I have never written Luna's POV so I hope it is acceptable as a drabble. Enjoy!)

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I waltzed down Diagon Alley, lost in thought. Even at 26, I was still considered rather odd. I was still a bit dreamy and gave off the appearance that my head was up in the clouds. However, despite what people may think, I was observant. In fact, I always had been. People would look at my clothing that didn't always match and was never really in fashion and thought that I was exactly like what they thought my father to be, a loony, but that wasn't the case. I always thought of my way of life as a way of marching to the beat of my own drummer and if people didn't like it... well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Let them think what they will.

I really had no destination in mind as I walked past the various shops. I was trying to think of a topic for the upcoming issue of _The Quibbler_. I'd taken over the magazine last year after my father passed away and tried to keep it true to his vision but sometimes, like this month, I found myself drawing a complete blank. I must have been walking for nearly an hour when a voice from the past shook me from my thoughts.

"Luna? Luna Lovegood?"

The voice was that of my childhood mate, Ronald Weasley. I would've known that voice anywhere. Our relationship as kids had always been a bit strange. Sometimes, I'd think he hated me yet other times, I'd think there might be something more but nothing ever came of it. He'd been completely wild about Hermione Granger at the time and after the war, they'd lived together for several years but I'd heard they'd been broken up for a while now. Of course, they were still good friends. The infamous Hogwarts trio simply _had_ to stay friends, didn't they?

Collecting my thoughts, I spun around and looked up at a more mature version of the face that I'd been expecting. "Ronald!" I felt my face light up as I spoke. He looked good... great, really. I couldn't help but remember the crush I'd had on him back in our school days and almost laughed out loud. I had to stop myself though. No sense in letting him think I was still loony as an adult. "How are you?

"Fine," he answered quickly, smiling back but fidgeting a little as he put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "And you?"

"Good. Good."

It was only then that I looked up and saw that I was standing directly outside of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. No wonder Ron was here. It was very rare that I came to Diagon Alley in the last several years so this is the first time we'd seen each other in nearly five years despite the fact that he worked somewhere so easily visited.

A tense silence settled over us and, for the longest time, we stood facing each other but both looking off into different directions as if we'd like to be anywhere else but in this conversation. However, for me at least, that was not the case so I finally broke the silence. "So, ummm... How is the shop doing?"

That was, apparently, the perfect question to ask because when I looked up at him again, his face was lit up with excitement. "The shop is doing AMAZING! George and I have been working on lots of new gags and they are flying off the shelves. Headmaster McGonagall still hasn't caught on that they are from us so she hasn't yet given us one of her "warning visits," he added with air quotes and a chuckle.

"That's great, Ron. I'm really glad that you're happy," I said softly, still a little taken aback as the feeling from my childhood began to creep back into my mind. Ronald Weasley really was quite an attractive man.

"What about you, Luna? I heard you took over _The Quibbler_?"

Normally, I didn't like to talk about the paper with people because they usually scoffed at the topic or made fun of me somehow but the way Ron had asked the question surprised me. It was like he was truly interested in my answer. Because of that, I found myself answering without hesitation. "Yes, when my dad died last year, I took over. The magazine was always so important to him that I wanted to keep it going. It's hard though... I'm not quite as good as my father was at finding evidence."

"Why don't you just make something up? I mean, most people aren't reading it for actual news." He spoke in a half teasing voice but it was the other half that bothered me. I'd crushed on this boy for a long time in school and had usually been able to ignore it when he said stupid or rude things to me because we were just kids but now we are adults and I really didn't need to deal with this again.

The reemerging emotions were instantly squelched and I found myself glaring up at the tall ginger-haired man. "It doesn't work that way, Ronald."

I turned to walk away, trying to forget any feelings I might have had for him in the past but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to his side. "Luna, wait. ... I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that... I wasn't trying to be rude..."

As his words trailed off, sounding seriously concerned about offending me. When I looked up into his face once more, I saw the same honest concern reflected in his eyes as well. That was it. At that moment, any hopes I'd held on forgetting my crush we long gone. I was never one to hold a grudge and now was no different. How could I be mad when someone was honestly apologetic?

"It's okay..." I muttered softly, not sure what else to say. Not sure what else I _should_ say...

"Look, Luna. I really am sorry," he started softly, his eyes meeting mine. "Will you let me make it up to you?"

"Make it up to me?" I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as all sorts of different possibilities flashed in my head. "How are you going to do that?"

"Let me take you out."

Instantly, I felt the flames rise up in my face. My jaw dropped momentarily and I knew I was blushing. "Take. Me. Out." I said the words slowly as if it was a completely foreign idea and it was. Sure, I'd been taken out before but this was Ronald Weasley...

"Sure," he said with a big smile once he knew that I was not going to flat out refuse him. "You and me. We can have dinner or something. It will be fun."

"You... want to go to dinner with... me..." It was a statement. I was still in shock.

"Duh!" he said, rolling his eyes with an infectious laugh that made me grin. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't. So, are we going?"

"Ummm... sure..." I said finally, still completely bewildered by the very idea.

"Wicked!" Then, as if to make the very unlikeliest of scenarios come to pass, he leaned down and quickly pecked my cheek. "It's a date then!"

"A date," I softly agreed with a nod of my head, cheeks still burning.

"It will be fun, Luna. You'll see."

A time and date were set and few days later, we went on our first date. It was surreal. It was the sort of thing I'd dreamed about so many years ago yet the kind of social interaction that you only get after you become an adult. We were surprising comfortable together. He seemed to accept that sometimes my mind just wandered and I accepted that sometimes he spoke without thinking. All in all we had a great time. We were happy together and we would remain that way.

Years later, I would look back on the day of our random encounter and smile. That was the day my life changed forever. It as the day I realized that I was in love with Ronald Weasley.


End file.
